Friday, April 18, 2014

Soma Fab is going to NYC!

Soma will be showing off some stuff at the Action Bicycle Expo in NJ the weekend after next. It's been a while since I've been to NYC, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to do a bit of bicycle tourism.

So, we retrieved the original Grand Randonneur prototype from the floor of American Cyclery where it's been on display for a few months now. If you're going to be at the Action show we'll have it on hand for people to check out, but don't stress if you didn't get an invite.

I'll be dropping it off at it's new home in Brooklyn, 718 Cyclery. So if that's your neck of the woods be sure to stop in an check it out before somebody swoops it. There were only 2 Grand Randonneurs made in this color, and the other one belongs to Mike Kone, so it's a pretty rare beast.

If I may, lets take a moment to nerd out on this build kit. I would like to draw your attention to the Sun XCD drive train on this thing. It's sporting the Sun Exceed crankset with IRD Defiant chain rings. Very classic looking, but the chainrings still have the shift ramps and pins so you don't have to struggle to get into the big ring. And of course the matching Sun front derailleur works perfectly with this setup.

We used an IRD Rivendell 9 speed rear cassette which comes in a 12-34 gearing. In the past that would have meant using a MTB rear derailleur, but now that Shimano has messed with the cable pull of their 10 speed MTB group that trick no longer works so well. Luckily the Sun XCD rear derailleur has no problem handling that kind of range, and even has a built in barrel adjuster. Genius ;-)

When we began designing the GR we knew we wanted to make matching tires to go with it. We knew we needed an option that was sturdy enough to tour on, but with less rolling resistance than the other guys. The touring version of the GR tires with brown sidewalls is a perfect accent to the brown Cardiff saddle and leather bar tape.